Never Stop Running
by Rosalea12
Summary: There was a boy running in the library, wearing a medical mask. That's the day I learned that books were the most powerful weapon in the universe. That's what the Doctor said. And he was right. (Title subject to change)
1. Teaser

**Author's** **Note: **This story has two original characters as main characters. Though don't you worry, there are more recognizable characters later on. Oh, and there's another twist I've thrown in that gives me a little more creative leeway to be able to throw whatever loops I want! I'm not telling who the recognizable characters are because then you'd guess my super secret twist a chapter too early. Can't have that. Hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **All that being said, the Doctor Who universe belongs to the evil overlord Steven Moffat. But my characters are just that: MINE!

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**Prologue/Teaser**

My name's Laura Clark. I used to be a normal university student in the middle of the 21st century. I was just about to finish my A levels.

I used to wish as hard as I could on every star in sight that something interesting would happen to me.

Then I met a boy.

A child of legends.

Then I met a man.

A madman with a blue box.

And the woman that keeps them together.

Now I don't even remember what normal is.

And I'm glad.

My wish came true. In the best possible way.

My whole life changed just after that first word.

"Run."

And we haven't stopped since.

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**Review reactions please? I'll try to have the first chapter up by tomorrow. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Okay, if you're reading this than you liked the little teaser, and I have indeed peaked your interest. This chapter should make it clear to you what the twist to my story is, but if not, don't worry, I'll spell it out for you later. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** Moffat still owns the actual Whoverse. But I own Laura Clark, and another super secret character. =)

**Chapter 1**

Laura Clark was a regular 19 year old university student. She had beautiful raven colored hair that she kept pulled back in a loose bun. She pushed her thick-rimmed glasses back on her nose as she walked to class. It was a dreary day, rain was in the air, but not yet falling. She was less than enthusiastic about this class.

She loved history to be sure, but she relished the story telling of it all. She wanted to deal with all the emotions that were behind a final decision that caused a major event. The struggle that a disaster caused it's society. This teacher just didn't teach it correctly. He just spouted off facts and forgot to tell a story. Never mentioned real details or artifacts, simply read names and their political accomplishments.

The module on Harriet Jones' presidency term was rubbish. She'd sponsored scientific breakthroughs, her support allowed Pete Tyler and Torchwood to defeat the Cybermen. But, no, all her professor would mention was the economic boom of Britain's "Golden Age". He had no fire. He could have easily mentioned any detail he could remember from the wonderful era, God knows he was around when it happened.

Laura wished that just once, she could watch some form of history as it was happening. But Britain's Golden Age was over by her fourth birthday. Since Harriet Jones left office nothing happened of major importance again. People just went about their daily lives. Or at least that's what Torchwood led them all to believe. She remembered how the government used to hide things of significance until it was staring the public in the face. For all she knew, they could be doing that again, but she never would know. Unless another spaceship decided to plow through Big Ben.

She looked off to the side as she passed an older building. She could see it was a library through the wall sized window. Then all of a sudden a boy about her age was running down an aisle...wearing a medical mask. Why on Earth would he need a medical mask in a library? Was there an airborne breakout all of a sudden? Well, only one way to find out.

Laura walked over to the building and went inside. She quickly found the room he'd been in and walked in slowly. She sniffed the air. Nothing smelled off, though carbon monoxide was odorless, so who was she to say?

She started roaming the stacks, almost forgetting her search for the boy as she looked through the book titles. She always could get lost for hours in either a library of bookstore. Finally she stumbled on a title that made her stop and pick it up. _Queen Victoria's Book of Secrets: The Torchwood Story. _She had heard small details of this story before, something to do with the Queen encountering a strange beast, it started the entire werewolf myth. There was a mysterious couple that had come to save the Queen from the beast, but then the couple was never heard from again. There were rumors that the Queen banished them afterwards, but that was mad. Why would she banish the people who saved her? She skimmed through the book's chapter titles only to be met with the title for the afterword in a different language, one she'd never even seen before. It reminded her of Ancient Greek, but she could read that. She turned to the afterword only to find the entire page in this strange language.

"I'll take the book, dear."

Laura was startled to see a woman was standing beside her. She seemed nice enough, and Laura assumed her to be the librarian. But there was something about the look in her eyes that made Laura weary to trust her.

"No, thanks. I think I'm gonna rent it out."

Suddenly two figures dressed in leather from head to foot were behind the woman. They appeared to be in a bodyguard stance, ready to attack.

"No, I'm afraid it's not for rent." The woman smiled eerily as the three of them stepped closer to Laura. She held out her hand. "Now, give me the book."

Laura felt properly threatened now and started backing up, her right arm clinging the book to her chest, until she felt her back hit the bookcase. The woman's face had started to turn purple and her teeth elongated. Laura felt her free hand being grabbed, and looked to the left to see the boy from earlier, sans mask. He only said one word to her.

"Run."

And they did.

**A/N: **Well, if you didn't figure it out with my subtle hints, Laura is living in Pete's World, the alternate universe. And this boy is not the Doctor. Who is he? Please review. I love feedback.


	3. Chapter 2: Meet the Parents

**Author's Note: **I will admit, and if you read my other Doctor Who story you already know this, I'm not great with writing the actual alien conflict. But I've tried to come up with a good species and plot for them to have, oh well, my focus is on the characters anyway. Enjoy =)

**Disclaimer: **Whatever is obvious belongs to Moffat; all others belong to my own creativity.

**Chapter 2: Meet the Parents**

Laura looked at the boy she was currently running behind. She still didn't understand what just happened with the librarian. She had so many questions, and she knew this boy had the answers.

Finally, they stopped running and she got a good look at him, he was very good looking. He was wearing jeans, a vintage rock concert t-shirt, and a forest green sports jacket over it with only the middle button done up; then his bright red trainers which she wasn't sure if they clashed or completed the outfit. He had honey colored hair that stuck up and went in a million different directions and eyes to match. The irises almost the same color as his hair and seemed to never stop moving, always observing his surroundings. His smile spread across her face and only when it went away as his lips started moving did she realize she'd been staring.

"What's that?" She asked as she'd missed his question.

"I said, 'did you get the book?'" He asked holding his hands out.

"Yeah, here." She handed it over easily. He quickly flipped to the back of the book and read the afterword as if he actually understood it. Again his smile split his face.

"Oh, that's gorgeous! How'd I not think of that?" He exclaimed. He turned around and started walking off.

"Wait," she called out to him. "What's your name?"

He turned back to her, genuinely surprised she hadn't been following right beside him.

"My name's James, James Smith." He held out his hand to shake hers. "And what do I call you?"

She took his hand and smiled. "Laura Clark."

Suddenly something flashed in his eyes as he saw something over her shoulder and his grip on her hand tightened.

"Nice to meet you, Laura Clark, run for your life." He turned and bolted, and they were off again.

"What are those things and why do they want the book?" She tried to ask as they ran.

"Long story, I'll explain in just a tick." He said as they ran outside to the courtyard. He blocked the door closed and straightened his clothes. "That should hold them off for a while. Of course, that's what I thought about the spray." He mumbled the last bit to himself.

"Off we go, then." He grabbed her hand and started leading her to a strange blue box.

"What's that police box doing here? They haven't been around for nearly a hundred years." Laura asked frantically. "And it wasn't here yesterday."

"Let's talk inside shall we?" He said unlocking the door.

"Be kind of cozy, won't it?" She smirked, not that she'd mind.

"Minx," he said then lightly shoved her inside. They walked into a huge room that Laura could only describe as a ship console. James put his arm around her shoulders. "Well?" He asked gauging her opinion.

"Bigger on the inside, at least, bigger than I gave it credit for." She stated calmly.

"Quite right, too," he smiled.

She walked up and stroked the console, pleased that she could feel a slight humming in her head as she did. She didn't recognize any of the mechanisms, except the hammer tied to a rope hanging to the side. She looked up to see James watching her, waiting to see how she reacted.

"Is this alien?" She asked.

"Yes." He said stepping closer to her. "It's a sentient ship, called a TARDIS: Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

She nodded, "And those people chasing us, they're alien?"

"Yes," Again getting closer to her.

"Are you alien?" She asked as he took the final step to stand completely in front of her.

"More or less," he said grabbing her hand again. "Is that alright?" He asked tentatively.

"Of course it is! It's wonderful!" She exclaimed pulling him into a hug.

There was a slam and they turned to see a man and woman walk into the ship.

"Did you get it?" The man asked as he ran up to them.

"Yeah, Da', here," James said handing the man, his father apparently, the book. He too read the afterword quickly.

"But that's brilliant!" He said looking to James.

"I know," James nodded, "almost depressed I didn't think of it myself."

"Who's this then?" The woman asked as she walked up to James's father's side.

"Mum, Da', this is Laura Clark, she found the book." James said as he introduced his parents to Laura with his hand at the small of her back. "Laura, these are my parents, Doctor John Smith and Rose Tyler-Smith."

"Nice to meet you," Laura said smiling at the couple.

"Hello," James father said, "Though mostly I just go by the Doctor."

"Hello, luv," Rose said smiling. "And how did you run into our troublemaker son here?"

"Oh, he saved me. Those things, the ones that are after the book, I had the book and they backed me into a corner trying to take it from me. Then James came and pulled me out of way and brought me here." She explained, then her brow furrowed. "Though I suppose I wouldn't have been in that position if it wasn't for him in the first place."

"How do you mean?" the Doctor asked. James, too, looked at her curiously.

"Well, the only reason I was there was because I was looking for him. I was walking by the building and noticed him running with a medical mask on. I didn't know why he'd have a medical mask in a library so I went to search for him."

"Why were you wearing a medical mask?" Rose asked her son.

"I sprayed the goons with Judas tree essence hoping to know them out for a while, and since I lack the beauty that is a respiratory bypass, if I didn't have the mask I would've been knocked out as well."

His parents seemed to accept this answer and Laura continued her tale. "Well, I ended up getting distracted by the books. I saw that one and was interested. I browsed the chapter titles, but couldn't read the afterword. It's in some strange language," she paused, "one that you two seem to be able to read. What is it?"

"Old High Gallifreyan," James explained. "It's an ancient language on Dad's home planet, that's why we can read it."

"So when you said 'more or less alien' you meant your dad's alien and your mom's human?" Laura asked.

"More or less," he repeated and winked.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, "so what do those things want with the book?" She asked him.

"They're called Librotanes." The Doctor jumped in. "They invented books, and they've invented a virus to hack the chips inside the covers that will affect the biological system of humans, essentially turning them to slaves for the Librotanes to command."

"And you're going to stop them with whatever's written in that afterword?" Laura correctly assumed.

"I like her." Rose smiled to James.

"Clever, isn't she?" James smiled in pride. He returned his attention to Laura's question. "Its instructions, we have to insert a counter virus into the Doctor-Moon of a Library planet in the future."

"Yeah, but how are we going to get to a different planet in the future?" She asked clearly confused this time.

"You haven't got to time and space travel, yet?" The Doctor asked annoyed.

"I was getting to it!" James shot back. "The TARDIS can travel in time and space, luv."

"Really?" She asked, hope clear in her eyes.

"Yep. Da'?" He called to his father as they both started jumping around the console flipped switches.

Rose walked up to stand by Laura, "You'll like this bit."

The Doctor flipped one last lever and looked to the rest of the group.

"Allons-y!"


End file.
